1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to methods for reducing or preventing the fouling of components that are exposed to the circulating fluid of a reactor.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional boiling water reactor (BWR) has a cooling system for conducting heat away from the nuclear fuel. The cooling system achieves the necessary heat conduction by circulating a cooling fluid through the reactor core. Over time, charged particles in the cooling fluid will accumulate on various components of the cooling system via electrostatic deposition according to zeta potential theory. The charged particles are typically deposited on metal surfaces of components that are exposed to the cooling fluid. The accumulation of charged particles on the components is known as fouling. Fouling reduces the flow of cooling fluid through the reactor core. As a result, a higher drive flow is required to maintain the desired core flow. The higher drive flow may increase vibrations, which may adversely affect the structural integrity of the cooling system, while also decreasing fuel efficiency. Thus, fouling degrades the performance of the cooling system.
Prior efforts to address fouling include cleaning the affected component, but such cleaning is more than a one-time process and must be performed at regular intervals. Other efforts to reduce or prevent the electrostatic deposition of charged particles have been directed to coating the various portions of the cooling system with an antifouling film. However, many components of a conventional cooling system are larger than the capacities of current coating equipment. As a result, an existing component may have to be removed from the system, transported to a coating facility, cut into several smaller pieces, coated individually, and then welded back together and reinstalled in the system, thus complicating the coating process as well as prolonging the disruption to the operation to the reactor.